Uwchlan nixes Downingtown post-prom party

UWCHLAN — Township supervisors are saying no to parents’ hopes of enticing students to a safer party after their prom.

On Monday, during the township’s board of supervisors’ meeting, parents and administrators of Downingtown High Schools East and West campuses presented to the supervisors their attempt to host this year’s post-prom event at the Lionville Community YMCA in Exton.

“I think you probably could have saved yourself a lot of grief if you had asked about this first,” said Supervisor Milton Bozarth.

According to Carolyn Ganzelli, co-organizer of East’s Post-Prom Committee, students were asked what would generate more attendance in the post-prom, which has been held at school facilities for the past eight years. The strongest reply was for an area with a pool, which led to the schools’ combined proposal to use YMCA facilities. The committees from both schools decided to coordinate their events in order to save money, and received approval from the YMCA’s board.

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When Ganzelli asked the supervisors why they were against the parent-planned and school-sponsored post-proms, the supervisors said they were concerned about the area’s neighboring residents.

“It’s not that the township doesn’t want to support these things, but there’s a clear issue here,” said Supervisor Frederick Gaines, chairman of the board.

According to the township’s zoning ordinances, the YMCA must be closed by 10 p.m., unless the supervisors grant an exception. According to Supervisor Joseph Toner, most activities are finished by 9 p.m., and the township’s parks close at dusk. Currently, the only exception is on Community Day, which hosts live music and fireworks in Lionville Park.

“Now we know that Jackie Fenn is very aware of that,” said Gaines. Fenn, who sits on the Downingtown Area School Board, is also the executive director of the Lionville Community YMCA. “That provision was (established) in the interest of the neighbors, (since) the YMCA was built in a residential neighborhood.”

Fenn said she was only recently made aware of the need to secure approval from the supervisors. She and the rest of the YMCA’s board not only approved the proposal to host both post-prom events, but did so without charging the groups a fee and are offering volunteer staff to help throughout the event.

According to Toner, the zoning ordinance for the YMCA was created because it is located in a residential network, and no exceptions have been granted in the past 17 years since the ordinance was established.

However, neighbors who attended the meeting said that they would accept the possibility of noise pollution for two nights throughout the entire year if it meant that students would be more likely to attend an alcohol-free post-prom party.

“I know there’s a difference between late at night and 3 o’clock in the afternoon, but I just feel like it’s one night that there’s going to be a little bit of extra noise,” said Karen Koller, who lives across from the YMCA. “Maybe the sound won’t carry as much (as it would at the school). I’m for having it at the (YMCA).”

According to Ganzelli, the committees have hired Krapf Bus Co. to shuttle students from the high school, where they have parked for post-prom parties over the last eight years, to the YMCA.

However, in spite of the residents in the area that did voice their support for the event, Toner said previous events have created a problem in Downingtown East’s neighborhood.

“The school district once again did not take into account (the area) in handling an event,” said Toner. “This goes on time and time and time again. The school district in that location (is) not a very good neighbor in the middle of that neighborhood. You have to consider the consequences of these actions.”

According to Toner, who resides in the area, during last year’s post-prom event, the school’s back doors were opened after the air conditioning unit unexpectedly shut off, allowing for noise from the event to carry out into the neighborhood.

“Now, this became such a problem, I called (Uwchlan Police Chief Joseph) Pontarelli at home because it was such, such an amount of noise that, this was early in the morning, (that) caused a tremendous problem for us,” said Toner. Toner also said students rang the doorbells of nearby homes. “Now we have a number of disabled veterans, and we have two widows that had this happen to them. I don’t want these kinds of activities up against this kind of neighborhood.”

No police reports of an incident were filed for that evening, according to Downingtown East Assistant Principal Ron Pavlick.

“I don’t make any excuses for that specific (incident),” said Pavlick. “But one thing I will say is that the idea of a post-prom in servicing our students and making them safe is something to be weighed in your consideration in terms of also balancing the safety and welfare of the total community.”

According to Downingtown West Principal Tom Mulvey, last year’s attendance at post-prom was 250 students out of about 850 students in total that attended the prom. Ganzelli said Downingtown East’s post-prom hosted about 350 of those who went to their own prom.

The supervisors are now demanding that if the committee still wishes to request an exception in order to use the YMCA as a site for their post-proms, they must speak with residents on Horne Place, Woodview Drive, Arianna Lane, Robin Road, North Whitford Road, Devon Drive, Reber Circle, Edgewood Drive, Oakland Drive and Balderston Drive, in order to determine whether residents would be accepting of the event and possible noise pollution.

“I think it’s a great idea to poll the neighbors,” said Koller. “They should have a say, too. I know there are rules in place, but I also think that sometimes it’s good to give it a chance, to see if this is a better venue. Maybe it’ll end up being better, but we won’t know until we try. So I’m all for trying. The inconvenience of having a little extra noise one or two nights a year is fine. Every once in a while, because of where we live and because the Y is there, which we value, we’re willing to put up with a little noise every once in a while for the good of the community.”

About the Author

Sara Mosqueda-Fernandez os the Daily Local News' reporter that covers all things Downingtown and its local school district. A transplant to Chester County, she also keeps an eye on environmental issues in the area. Reach the author at smfernandez@dailylocal.com
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